Proper drying can be as important as a proper washer to ensure a swirl-free finish. With just a few simple tips you can get ensure you are drying as safe as possible.
1 – Quality Towels: This is, of course, the most important part. Don’t be that guy using a bath towel or the one nice drying towel you bought 5 years ago. There are a ton of great option but my favorite is The Rag Company Twist & Shout.
2 – Sheet Dry: If your vehicle has protection, which it better, you can use the “sheeting method” This is where, after the car is washed and rinsed, you use and open end of the hose and with low water pressure you flood the paint and since the vehicle is protected the water will collect together and sheet off the paint.
Here you can see just after it was rinsed
Here is after the sheeting method, you can see the sheer volume of water is much less, meaning less overall to need to dry
3 – Blow Crevices: Using and air blower to blow dry the whole car would be ideal, but at least blowing out the crevices before drying will ensure you don’t have the never ending drips by your door handles or keep re-wetting the surface when your towel goes over a trim piece.
4 – Detail spray: After sheet rinsing it is important to use some sort of detail spray. Think about when you are washing you have a ton of lubrication to help prevent swirls. Yet when you are drying you have none, so a quick spritz of detail spray on the panel will add the necessary lubrication for the towel and add a bit of pop. A light detail spray that actually isn’t a ton of protection is the best for this. Something like the Nextett Perfect Shine. This step isn’t to add protection, it is just to provide lubrication.
These tips will greatly improve your end result when drying and be safe at the same time!